Drought causes cattle farmer and butcher heartbreak

By Steph Crosier

A Trenton butcher has had to lay off an employee this fall as customers shy away from the high cost of beef and the XL Foods e. coli recall.

“We had to cut back staffing, which cuts back on overhead that’s the major things we had to do,” said Berry. “We can’t cut back on hydro and that so yes we’ve had some layoffs.”

The XL Foods license was suspended and beef recalled on Sept. 27 after e.coli was found in ground beef and steak. On Oct. 29 the company was allowed to resume it’s operation.

As well as the e. coli scare, the summer drought drove the cost of feeding cattle up and the cost of beef up by $2.00 a pound.

See QNetnews.ca for more details.